Great Lakes Conference

This past weekend, Robin and I attended the Great Lakes Restoration Conference in Cleveland Ohio. After hearing the Politicians’ speeches and the lectures on the importance of the Great Lakes as habitat and fresh water supply, I felt that a lot of precious time was spent preaching to the choir. The conference succeeded, however, in leaving me with a sense of urgency because my overall impression was that our Great Lakes are in a precarious state.
I believe that as Western New Yorkers, our connection to Lake Erie is immutable. My Grandparents rode on the Canadiana, went to Crystal Beach as children, danced at the Crystal Beach dance hall. They then took their children to the beach to share in the happy memories. My parents went on dates to Crystal Beach Park. Later, when my sister and I were little, we spent summer days on the beach. This was a family tradition full of memories of happy childhood, hot sand and cold water, the breeze off the lake, the smell of sugar waffles and French fries, the taste of loganberry.
When I was around the age of nine, not only did the park close but the beach closed too because people were contracting diseases from the water. The point is that I would love to be able to pass on the tradition of enjoying Lake Erie. However, the failure to ensure clean water to drink and swim in renders us helpless to protect our children, the most vulnerable members of society, from unknown dangers lurking in the water.
Now more than ever it is important for those in Washington to hear how we feel about our lake. They need to know that we do not want a permanent Keep Out sign on nature’s playground. We do not want the water sold off to Las Vegas or Asia. We need to encourage our Government to invest in this priceless resource. The Great Lakes needs your help.
To get involved visit: www.healthylakes.org

Great Lakes Restoration Conference in Cleveland

Shannon Holland and I went to Cleveland over the weekend for a conference discussing restoration of the Great Lakes. I came away impressed with the urgency of protecting and restoring the Great Lakes before they reach an ecological "tipping point." The rapidity of the deterioration in the Great Lakes is truly alarming--for example, the population of diporeia, tiny freshwater shrimp that make up 80% of food for Great Lakes fish, have declined 94% in Lake Michigan alone since 1994. Every 8 months, a new invasive species is introduced to the Great Lakes system. There are already 160 invasive species.

The huge inland seas, which make up 95% of the fresh water in the United States, face a host of stresses threatening ecosystem breakdown, including invasive species, over fishing, nutrient loading, toxic chemicals, abusive land use practices, hydrological alterations, and climate change. The dead zone has reappeared in Lake Erie.

Eight states, 2 provinces, 35 native tribes, and 40 million people surround the Great Lakes. Five of the Great Lakes states are swing states in the upcoming election. We have to make our elected officials realize that restoration of this priceless natural resource is a priority with voters. When Congress allocated $4 billion dollars to restore the Everglades, we realized that largescale federal restoration is possible. We know enough to act, but the government has to allocate the money--$20 billion dollars is needed.

I was also struck by Cleveland's similarity to Buffalo. Both cities are trying to emerge from their heavy industrial past by revitalizing their waterfront. But Cleveland's waterfront was not all it was cracked up to be, in my opinion. Clevelanders are stymied by lack of public access to the waterfront, which is blocked by industry and residential development. Dike 14, Cleveland's equivalent of Times Beach, is still technically a Confined Disposal Facility that the Army Corps of Engineers wants to use for dredge materials. Whiskey Island, a 20-acre patch of green space with sand volleyball courts and a marina nestled in front of Cleveland's industrial sector, is under threat of takeover from Cleveland's Port Authority for use as a gravel pit.

Buffalo has amazing potential for waterfront revitalization--it appears that the NFTA is finally going to relinquish possession of the Outer Harbor, and the Niagara River Greenway is in the planning process. Today, a visitor from Portland, Oregon walked into our office to convey her admiration for the Citizens' Vision for the Outer Harbor in our window. I hope that vision will become a reality in Buffalo.

Ellicott Island Park

We had a great turnout at Ellicott Island Park! About thirty participants came ranging in ages from 2 to 70. Teachers and students from Heritage Heights Elementary came to support this event, their help and enthusiasm was greatly appreciated. We also had college students from UB, UB Law, and SUNY Fredonia. Suprisingly the park was in pretty good shape, unfortunatley it looked like most of the garbage was already in the water. The team found bottles, car parts, a children's play oven, a big gallon drum, and a knife! AHH! Hopefully, we made the park cleaner for our water, and safer for the public. Thanks to everyone involved in the Cleanup! We are looking forward to the Spring!

EPA Library to be Closed to Public

Captains and Friends,
Some news to get you riled up this week, courtesy of the Waterkeeper Alliance listserv:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is closing its Headquarters Library to the public, as well as its own staff, effective October 1. This shutdown is the latest in a series of agency library closures during the past few weeks, according Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). As with the other library collections, the books, reports and research monographs in the EPA Headquarters Library have been boxed up and are currently inaccessible to anyone.

EPA will not say when any of this material will again become available to its staff or the public either via the internet or through inter-library loans. As the agency claims that the library closures are for budgetary reasons, it has no dedicated funds for digitizing hard copies, making microfiche available online or re-cataloguing the tens of thousands of documents that will be relocated to large storage areas called "information repositories."

EPA made a formal announcement of this latest library closure in a Federal Register notice published on September 20, 2006, just days before the complete shutdown takes effect.

For more info check out:

EPA Begins Closing Libraries: http://www.yubanet.com/artman/publish/article_40955.shtml
EPA's response: http://www.yubanet.com/artman/publish/article_40991.shtml
EPA Employee Responds: http://www.yubanet.com/artman/publish/article_41345.shtml
Latest update on closures: http://www.yubanet.com/artman/publish/article_41281.shtml

Autumn cleanup a sweeping success!

Congratulations to all of our hard working site captains and volunteers for a successful Autumn Beach Sweep! Last weekend's event was our best fall cleanup yet; I estimate 700 people at our 31 sites in 13 municipalities. We cleaned shorelines of the Niagara River, Buffalo River, Scajaquada Creek, Ellicott Creek, Tonawanda Creek, both Cayuga Creeks, Buffalo Creek, and Lakes Erie and Ontario!

Reports are still rolling in, but interesting finds this year include two scooters, a basketball, boomerang, nude photos, hypodermic needles, a large animal skeleton, shopping carts, jug of clay, grinding wheel, zucchini, mittens, roll of duct tape, drug paraphernalia, over 75 spent shotgun shells, golf club, car seat, urine sample, street sign, lotto tickets, and corrugated hose.

At Gratwick Park, where Rick and I cleaned up, we found a broken bat, fishing line, an awful lot of plastic bits and styrofoam, and many (empty) drug baggies. Happily, the interesting wetland plants established during the cleanup of that site a couple of years ago are thriving! We took time to admire the healthy plants and the beautiful butterflies attracted to them as we cleaned.

Thanks so much to everyone who made this event possible. Through your efforts, our shorelines are cleaner, safer and more beautiful than ever!